Ex parte Moynier

California Supreme Court Feb 8, 1884 No. No. 10,922Published

Before: Myrick

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Holding. The court held that a municipal ordinance regulating the hours of operation and sanitary conditions of public laundries is a valid exercise of local police and sanitary power under the state constitution.

Issues

Whether a municipal ordinance regulating laundry operations violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Whether the ordinance violates state constitutional provisions regarding property rights, uniform operation of laws, and special privileges.
Whether the ordinance constitutes a valid exercise of local police and sanitary power.

Disposition. remanded

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“We do not see that the enforcement of this order would abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, or that it would deprive any person of liberty or property without due process of law”

“The order is not discriminating and special in any such sense as to make it repugnant to the Constitutipn.”

“whenever it is necessary for the health or protection of members of the community that regulations should exist and be enforced, the power is given by the Constitution to local authorities to make and enforce such regulations.”

Synopsis

Constitutional Law — Launbiíies—Police and Sanitabv Regulations.—An ordinance of the city and county of San Francisco, approved June 25, 1883, declared it to be unlawful for any person to establish, maintain, or carry on the business of a public laundry or wash-house where articles are cleansed for re, within certain named limits, without first obtaining a certificate from the health officer that the premises are sufficiently drained, and that the business can be carried on without injury to the sanitary condition of the neighborhood, and a certificate from the hoard of fire wardens, that the heating appliances are in good condition, and that their use is not dangerous to the surrounding property. It further provided that no person or persons owning or employed in such laundries or wash-houses shall wash or iron clothes between the hours of ten o’clock p. 11. and six o’clock A. 21., nor upon any portion of the day known as Sunday. Held, that these are police or sanitary regulations, and are not in conflict with the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States, nor with sections 1, 11, or 24, of article i. of the Constitution of Cali-0 fornia.

Myrick, J. The prisoner was arrested and is in custody for a violation of section 4, of order No. 1719, of the board of supervisors of the city and county of San Francisgo. The ordinance was approved June 25, 1883. Section 4 declares that “no person or persons owning or employed in the public laundries or public wash-houses provided for in section 1 of this order shall wash or iron clothes between the hours of ten o’clock p. M. and six o’clock A. M., nor upon any portion of that day known as Sunday.” Section 1 declares it to be unlawful for [35]any person to establish, maintain, or carry on the business of a public laundry or wash-house, where articles are cleansed for hire, within certain named limits, without having first obtained a certificate from the health officer that the premises are sufficiently drained, and that the business can be carried on without injury to the sanitary condition of the neighborhood, and a certificate from the board of fire wardens, that the heating appliances are in good condition, and that their use is not dangerous to the surrounding property.

The petitioner claims that the order is void, in that it conflicts with the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States, and with sections 1, 11, and 21, of article i., of the Constitution of this State.

We do not see that the enforcement of this order would abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, or that it would deprive any person of liberty or property without due process of law, or deny to any person in this State the equal protection of the laws.

Section 1 of article i. of the Constitution of this State, declares that all men have the inalienable right of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness. Section 11 of the same article declares that all laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation, and section 21 declares that no citizen or class of citizens shall be granted privileges or immunities which, upon the same terms, shall not be granted to all citizens.

We do not deem it necessary to go into an elaborate and extended consideration of the propositions advanced, nor to do more than quote another section of the State Constitution, and show its application to the subject in hand.

Section 11 of article xi. provides that “any county, city, town, or township, may make and enforce within its limits, all such local, police, sanitary, and other regulations as are not in conflict with general laws.”

Ex parte Moynier

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